Cycling great Anna Meares and partner Nick Flyger welcome baby girl, Evelyn Bette
She’s won two Olympic gold medals and 11 world titles but Anna Meares says nothing compares to the feeling of becoming a mum after the birth of her baby girl this week.
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Olympic champion Anna Meares says becoming a mum is a greater feeling than any medal or world title she ever won after the birth of her daughter Evelyn Bette.
Meares and her partner, Australian cycling coach Nick Flyger, welcomed their first child in the early hours of Monday morning, weighing 3.39kg.
“She’s got black hair like her dad and blue eyes like me,” Meares said.
“You spend 22 years chasing medals and titles and all that sort of stuff and this is the one I wasn’t sure I’d get, and now I’ve got it it’s amazing.
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“I feel really good, I’m just enjoying it. The emotions hit me when she was born but I think I’ve settled into it and stared at her long enough to make it real, she’s actually here and not in my imagination.”
The name carries special significance given Evelyn is the name of Nick’s late grandmother and Bette the name of the American nurse who looked after Meares as she recovered from a broken neck in Los Angeles in 2008.
“We both had a feeling we were having a boy so when she was put on my chest and I saw she was a girl it was a nice surprise but we had options for a name either way,” Meares said.
‘Better than any medal or title I have ever won, The day that I became a mum’ @NickFlyger and I are thrilled to share the safe arrival of our daughter Evelyn Bette Meares Flyger. Born 1207am 10/02/2020 weighing 3.39kg.#SheIsJustPerfect â¤ï¸ pic.twitter.com/uT1pelzCkE
— Anna Meares (@AnnaMeares) February 11, 2020
“We’re working well together, Nick comes in and I catch up on my sleep during the day and he catches up at night.”
The two-time Olympic gold medallist and 11-time world champion retired from cycling after the 2016 Rio Olympics.
She and Flyger had worked together with the cycling team but only started dating in late 2017 when they reconnected following the death of their former mentor Gary West.
While Flyger is preparing to lead the Aussie sprinters to the Tokyo Olympics in July, it will be the first Games since 2004 that Meares has not been a part of but she will have an enthusiastic companion to watch it on TV with.